It is on the wave of this intense competition amongst the telecom operators that we, lesser mortals, are riding on – sometimes pretty much for free.

But there is no such thing as a free lunch. With the plethora of offers, comes the tension of making sure that you make the right decision. To make the right choice, we must first be informed. There are so many packages out there that are being offered by leading mobile networks which makes it difficult to choose.

With ever changing tariff structures and new bundles coming out, subscribers are increasingly being tempted to make use of these new packages in the quest to find one that suits their lifestyle.

Trying is the name of the game and yes, we should do these comparisons and switch between offers to get the most bangs for your buck by comparing telecommunications companies in terms of their price points and service charges.

Don’t fall for the ‘cheapest trap’ however. Companies may be offering cheap rates on different packages at different times but sometimes the switch is what costs you your balance.

Yes, you need to account for factors beyond the price point itself. These factors vary from operator to operator.

This article offers a breakdown of the service change packages offered by various telecom service providers and facilitates you in making the decision on what offer is more attractive.

Try to understand what it will cost you if you were to switch from, one offer to the next offer on the Mobilink, Ufone or Telenor network.

You would be surprised to know that changing your package if you are a Warid or Zong customer is the most expensive. Warid and Zong, despite being smaller operators, charge the highest at Rs. 25 and Rs. 15 respectively. As smaller players, this is perhaps a way for these companies to earn some revenue outside of voice and SMS services.

Other operators fortunately are a bit better; Mobilink & Telenor for example deduct only Rs. 9 and Rs. 10 for every change.

Telenor has made the switch to the default package free (I am still trying to understand why though).

Mobilink follows a blanket approach and keeps it simple regardless of what package you are migrating to or from.

Ufone charges Rs. 15 if you are converting to most of its other packages and then come the variations – e.g. from Rs. 10 if you are converting TO the Uth package and so on. You may want to visit their site to really understand what is going on.

However, any benefits in terms of low ancillary charges offered some telecom operators are a relief considering the constant trend of bad news for the consumer from power outages to the soaring oil prices to the constantly increasing costs of living a life.